(1) The Audit Office is an advisory and control instrument for the Council and its committees. The purpose of auditing is to support the Council in its decisions and to monitor and advise the city administration in the performance of its duties.

The Audit Regulations define the framework and principles for the activities of the Audit Office of the City of Bonn.

(2) The Audit Office is directly responsible to the Council and is directly subordinate to it in its professional activities. It is not subject to professional instructions.

(3) The management and the auditors of the Audit Office are appointed and dismissed by the Council. They may only hold another position in the city insofar as this is legally permissible and compatible with their auditing duties.

The auditors should be civil servants of at least the higher civil service or employees of comparable pay grades.

(4) The management and the auditors must be personally and professionally suitable for the tasks of the audit office, have the specialist knowledge required for their area of responsibility and be prepared to undergo regular further training.

(5) In the assessment of audit procedures, the management and the auditors of the Audit Office are subject only to the law.

The management distributes the tasks to the employees.

The rights to which it is entitled under these Audit Regulations shall be exercised by the deputy management if it is unable to do so.

(6) The auditors shall carry out the audits on their own responsibility, taking into account a risk-oriented audit approach. The type, method and scope of the audits are generally left to the auditor within the scope of the tasks assigned by the management.

As part of their auditing duties, the auditors are obliged to inform the management immediately of any particular observations and deficiencies, in particular any initial suspicion of criminal acts or other material breaches of duty or breaches of employment contract.

They must maintain confidentiality about all processes that become known in the course of their work, insofar as their secrecy or confidential treatment is prescribed, necessary by their nature or necessary for the purpose of the audit in order not to jeopardize it.

The auditors must inform the management immediately if they are biased towards the employees they are to audit or if there is any concern of bias.

(7) At the beginning of an audit, the auditors must inform the management of the institution to be audited, unless the purpose of the audit does not permit this.

In the case of unsuspected audits such as cash and inventory audits and others, information shall only be provided after the audit data (inventories, books, receipts, etc.) have been secured.

In the case of ongoing and regular audits, the first notification is sufficient.
As a rule, audits must be concluded with a report. The main audit findings should be discussed with the management of the audited body before the report is finalized.

A report on ongoing audits (including, for example, accounting documents, automated data processing, contract awards, construction sites) is only required if the audit has led to serious objections or to suggestions for improvement of financial interest; objections of minor importance can be discussed and resolved in direct consultation with the audited body.

(8) The management and the auditors of the Audit Office may neither order nor execute bookings and payments of the City. Furthermore, they may not participate in the keeping of the books or in the preparation of the annual financial statements or the consolidated financial statements.

(1) The legally assigned tasks of the Audit Office result in particular from Sections 102 (1), 102 (10), 102 (11) and 104 (1) GO NRW.

(2) The following additional tasks are also assigned to the Audit Office:

1. auditing the administration and its special assets for legality, expediency and economic efficiency,
2. auditing the economic management and accounting of the municipality's own enterprises and other institutions in accordance with § 107 Para. 2 GO NRW,
3. the audit of the activities of the municipality as a partner, shareholder or member in companies and other associations under private law or in the legal form of an institution under public law in accordance with Section 114a GO NRW as well as the audit of accounts and operations which the municipality has reserved for itself in the case of an investment, the granting of a loan or otherwise.
4. the risk-oriented audit of property transactions with a transaction value of EUR 100,000 or more,
5. auditing the cost and performance accounting of the city's fully cost-covering cost-accounting facilities, including the calculations for determining private-law charges or public-law fees and their operating accounts,
6. assistance with
   - the amendment of statutes or regulations in budgetary, financial, accounting and procurement matters as well as those with which fees or charges are levied, insofar as they do not fall under item 5,
   - the amendment of instructions in budgetary, financial, accounting and procurement matters,
   - significant changes of a financial/business management, procurement and technical nature, and
   - organizational measures, insofar as these may have a significant financial/business impact.
   
   In the cases of items 4 to 6, the draft resolutions to be submitted to the preliminary consultative bodies and the Council must be submitted to the Audit Office for review after internal administrative coordination, generally at least ten working days before the submissions are forwarded to the Council Office. The operating accounts in accordance with item 5 must be sent by the respective department immediately after they have been prepared.
   
   If the Audit Office is also involved in the co-signing of administrative documents, the administrative documents that have already been approved must generally be submitted to it within a period of time appropriate to the matter. The co-signature of the audit office should therefore generally be placed at the end of the digital workflow. Prior coordination at working level remains unaffected by this.
7. Auditing the appropriate use of funds for municipal grant recipients on the basis of the rights enshrined in the respective approval guidelines and notices.
8. the audit of proof of use, insofar as the grantor has expressly requested an audit by the audit office as a condition for the grant; in these cases, the administration is obliged to inform the audit office of the audit obligation at the time of the application for the grant funds, but at the latest after it becomes known in the approval notice.
   
   The proof of use and all documents necessary for its examination must be made available to the audit office for examination at least four weeks before the expiry of the submission deadline specified in the approval notice.
9. The audit of the annual financial statements of other institutions of which the city is a member or shareholder, insofar as this is provided for in the respective statutes, articles of association or other resolutions,
10. the special audit of municipal companies and shareholdings on the basis of the audit rights stipulated in the respective articles of association or statutes, subject to the issue of a specific audit mandate by the Council, the Audit Committee or the Mayor of Bonn.
11. the establishment and operation of the internal reporting office in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act Implementation Act NRW as well as the monitoring of compliance with the legal requirements under these laws.

(3) If urgent official reasons so require, the management of the Audit Office is authorized to impose temporary restrictions with regard to the type and scope of the audits or to exclude individual areas from the audit, provided that this does not violate any statutory provisions. The Chairperson of the Audit Committee must be informed of this immediately; in the case of contract awards, the Chairperson of the Procurement Committee must also be informed.

The Audit Committee and, if applicable, the Procurement Committee shall be informed accordingly at its next meeting following the order, stating the reasons for the temporary restrictions.

(4) The Council and the Audit Committee may delegate further audit tasks to the Audit Office and issue audit assignments in individual cases.

(5) The Mayor of Bonn may issue audit assignments to the Audit Office within his/her area of responsibility. The Audit Committee must be informed of this immediately at its next meeting. The duty to inform is the responsibility of the Mayor of Bonn's office.

All departments of the City of Bonn as well as their subordinate organizational units, the special funds and other institutions to be audited must inform the Audit Office without delay, stating the facts of the case:

• all suspected or established official irregularities that may give rise to an initial suspicion of criminal acts (for example in connection with fraud, embezzlement, corruption or similar),
• Public prosecutor's investigations against municipal employees in connection with their official activities,
• losses due to break-ins, damage to property, theft, robbery, embezzlement, fire or other extraordinary causes,
• cash register discrepancies (further details are regulated by the relevant instructions on cash register transactions),
• Damage caused by processing/operating errors or similar (excluding activities involving damage) from EUR 1,000, in particular to analyze any weak points,
• shortfalls in income or interest charges in connection with the processing of subsidies received,
• extraordinary events or equipment malfunctions with significant impairments, in particular in the operational readiness or data security of technology-supported information processing facilities or in the processing of data processing tasks in the area of budget management, accounting and the ordering/determination procedure,
• suspected or detected manipulation of centralized and decentralized computer systems, network components, data carriers and databases or loss of backed-up and/or archived data subject to retention requirements.

If significant technical and organizational measures are to be implemented that could have a significant financial/operational impact, the audit office must be informed promptly so that it can comment on them at the planning stage. This applies in particular to changes or new installations in the areas of budgeting, finance, accounting and procurement as well as technology-supported information processing.

When developing or procuring software for financial accounting, the Audit Office must be involved in good time so that the programs can be tested before they are used. The same applies to program changes.

(1) In accordance with the provisions of the City of Bonn's instructions on awarding contracts, all award processes must be recorded in the procurement management system.

The Audit Office has unrestricted audit access to all processes and is authorized to review measures beyond the matters described in Section 5 (2) et seq.

(2) The approval of the Audit Office must be obtained in advance for award procedures

• where the decision on the award is reserved for a procurement committee,
• where there is a deviation from the prescribed type of award or where the minimum number of companies to be invited to tender is not exceeded,
• where there are supplements in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3,
• or an intention to audit is declared by the audit department.

(3) If the sum of the supplements exceeds EUR 25,000 (net), these are subject to review by the audit office. For this purpose, the tender documents (such as supplementary offer, supplementary calculation, material and subcontractor offers, extracts from the original calculation as proof of the awards, equipment, material and operating material cost estimates) must be made available to the audit office via the procurement management system before the supplementary order is carried out, as far as possible, with detailed justification of their necessity.

In the event of late provision, the audit office must be informed in advance by e-mail, stating the code number of the supplementary services.

(4) The approval of the Audit Office must be obtained via the procurement management system prior to any cancellation of a tender.

(5) If and as long as award procedures cannot yet be created in the procurement management system, the provisions of Annex 1 shall apply in deviation from paragraphs 1 to 4.

The Audit Office must be notified of all planned property transactions with a transaction value of EUR 100,000 or more, together with the documents relevant to the assessment.

Upon receipt of the complete notification, the Audit Office decides within a reasonable period of time, at its own discretion and taking risk-oriented aspects into account, whether it declares the transaction to be subject to an audit. In such cases, the transaction may only be concluded after the audit has been completed by the Audit Office.

The political bodies must be informed of the decision of the Audit Office in accordance with sentence 2 for each property transaction in accordance with sentence 1.

(1) The audit reports of other auditing bodies (Federal Audit Office, State Audit Office, Municipal Audit Office, Tax Office, etc.) as well as the reports on organizational investigations shall be forwarded to the Audit Office without delay.
The business plans, interim/annual financial statements, balance sheets, audit reports by auditors, sworn accountants or similar and the annual/management reports of the special assets must also be submitted to the Audit Office in a timely manner by the investment administration, unless they can be accessed via the council information system. The same applies to documents for companies in which the City has a direct or indirect holding.

(2) All regulations, decrees and notifications that enact, amend, explain or repeal budgetary, financial and accounting provisions shall be forwarded to the Audit Office immediately after their publication, unless they can be accessed via the municipal intranet.

The same applies to all other documents required by the Audit Office for its audit activities.

(3) All employees of the city, in particular those of the audited areas, must support the auditors of the Audit Office in carrying out their audit tasks and provide them with truthful information.

The audit office must be provided with information on the authorized signatories within the budget, finance and accounting system and on the scope of the powers granted, unless this information can be accessed digitally.

The invitations (including attachments) and the minutes of the public and non-public meetings of the Council and its committees, subcommittees, project advisory boards and district councils must be made available to the Audit Office via the Council information system; attachments not included in the system must be made available immediately upon request by the Audit Office.

The management of the Audit Office is entitled to attend all public and non-public meetings of the Council and its committees as well as the district councils or to send an authorized person. This also applies to all administrative events insofar as they are related to audit tasks.

(1) The Audit Office is entitled to demand from the departments of the City of Bonn and their subordinate organizational units, the special funds and the other institutions to be audited any information necessary for the audit and the handing over of files, documents, books as well as access to all IT systems (hardware and software) - if necessary with the activation of special program functions - and access to all digital data stocks or other information carriers in writing, image or sound, insofar as this does not conflict with statutory provisions.

(2) The management and the auditors have access to all municipal premises and construction sites within the scope of their audit tasks; in this context, they are entitled to request access to all official files, documents, books and other records, their storage locations as well as safes or other containers. If necessary, all official items (including, for example, files, documents, books, data carriers, hardware and software) may be seized against confirmation of receipt.

The management and the inspectors are authorized to visit the events and facilities to be inspected. Upon request, they shall identify themselves with an official ID card.

(3) If discrepancies or ambiguities arise during an audit, the Audit Office must request the necessary clarification from the head of department via the Lord Mayor.

If gross breaches of duty against internal or external standards are identified in the course of the audit, the Audit Office shall forward the facts of the case to the Human Resources Department so that the need to initiate measures under labor or disciplinary law can be examined from there.

(4) If the Audit Office becomes aware of or discovers irregularities that may give rise to an initial suspicion of a criminal offense, the management shall immediately inform the Mayor of Bonn so that he/she can involve the public prosecutor's office.

Irrespective of this, the management of the Audit Office and the contact person appointed by the Mayor of Bonn to prevent corruption are entitled and obliged to discuss indications of criminal conduct in connection with official actions (i.e. even before the public prosecutor's office is called in by the Mayor of Bonn) directly with the law enforcement authorities and to coordinate further action.

On behalf of the Mayor of Bonn, they may also answer inquiries from the public prosecutor's office or the criminal investigation department to investigate an initial suspicion and, in this context, transmit personal data of city employees (e.g. name, address, date/place of birth) to these authorities in compliance with the principle of necessity.

In order to ensure the best possible cooperation with the law enforcement authorities, the Lord Mayor grants the head and deputy head of the Audit Office and the contact person for the prevention of corruption general permission to provide information.

The Mayor of Bonn is informed promptly of all significant contacts with the public prosecutor's office. The Mayor of Bonn is informed in advance of any official statements made by the Audit Office to the public prosecutor's office. As part of the confidential cooperation with the prosecution authorities, they are also bound to secrecy in accordance with Section 353 b of the German Criminal Code (StGB).

(5) The employees of the departments of the City of Bonn and their subordinate organizational units, the special assets or other institutions to be audited shall generally conduct the essential correspondence with the Audit Office via their respective office, institute, company or management.

The reports on the audit of the annual and consolidated financial statements are generally dealt with in a public meeting. By way of exception, they may be divided into a general and a separate report volume. Matters requiring confidential treatment must be presented in the separate report volume.

The Audit Committee decides which parts of the report are to be treated confidentially.

(1) If the Audit Office discovers or becomes aware of significant irregularities, the Mayor of Bonn and the Chair of the Audit Committee must be informed.

Furthermore, damage caused by

• robbery and embezzlement
• and - from a loss amount of EUR 25,000 - due to burglary, damage to property, theft, fire, reduced income or interest charges in connection with funding measures and other extraordinary causes.

The Audit Committee must be informed of this at its next meeting, unless the chairperson deems immediate notification necessary.

An exception to this procedure is only justified if this would jeopardize investigations by the public prosecutor's office. In such cases, the possible scope of information must be agreed with the public prosecutor's office.

(2) The Audit Office shall inform the Audit Committee of significant incidents and any difficulties and problems in the area of technology-supported information processing.

(3) The management of the Audit Office shall, upon request, provide the Audit Committee with information on all matters within its remit and grant access to files in accordance with the statutory provisions.

Differences of opinion between the Audit Office and the bodies audited by it regarding audit observations are submitted to the Audit Committee for discussion. Where legal issues are involved, an expert opinion from the head of the legal department is decisive.

The meetings of the Audit Committee are prepared by the Audit Office. The meetings are attended by the management of the Audit Office and the auditors appointed by it.

(1) The management of the Audit Office shall send the audit reports to the responsible departmental management. Reports of particular importance shall be submitted to the Mayor of Bonn at the same time.

The audited bodies must comment on the main audit observations in the reports via their departmental management in good time, generally within four weeks. If, despite a reminder, no comments or only inadequate comments are made within a reasonable period, the report is to be submitted by the Audit Office - in the form then available - to the rapporteur procedure. At the same time, the matter shall be presented to the Mayor of Bonn following a decision by the head of the Audit Office.

(2) The reports must be submitted to the committee chairperson and the rapporteurs appointed by the Audit Committee for information no later than two months after being sent to the audited bodies, who can then request that the reports be included in the agenda for the next possible meeting of the Audit Committee.

At the same time, the members of the Audit Committee to be informed, the parliamentary groups, the council groups and the individual city councillors each receive a version of the report. In addition, all committee members shall be informed of the key audit findings in the form of summaries at the next possible meeting of the Audit Committee.

(3) Reports that are based on a special audit assignment in accordance with Section 2 (4) and (5) of these Audit Regulations and reports of particular importance shall be forwarded directly to the Audit Committee or the Council in deviation from the procedure described in paragraph 2.

In addition, the agenda for the meeting of the Audit Committee shall include the current reports sent to the audited bodies for which the two-month submission period pursuant to paragraph 2 has not yet expired.

(4) Furthermore, it is not permitted to refer to non-public audit reports and correspondence of the Audit Office in external correspondence or in negotiations or discussions with third parties who are not members of the Council, the City Administration or the audited institution, or to hand over such reports to third parties or allow them to inspect them, without the prior consent of the Audit Office.

Politically and legally significant correspondence from the Audit Office must be signed by the management. It is entitled to transfer the authority to sign to the department heads.

The Audit Regulations enter into force on June 1, 2021. At the same time, the Audit Regulations dated October 23, 2008, last amended by Council resolution dated September 15, 2011, shall expire.

Bonn, May 12, 2021

Dörner
Mayor of Bonn

(corresponds to § 5 of the RPO of October 23, 2008, last amended by council resolution of September 15, 2011)

(1) When inviting tenders or sending out the tender documents, the RPA must be notified of the measure whose individual value exceeds EUR 5,000 for supplies and services and fees, and EUR 15,000 for construction services, using the form stored in the FAIRgabe system with the following information/documents:

• Description of the measure,
• G/L account/financial item and CO account assignment/financial center or order number (SGB),
• FAIRgabe number (consecutive measure number),
• Award documents (in particular in accordance with VOB/A, VOL/A, VOF),
• estimated costs,
• invited applicants.

(2) The RPA examines the notified awards,

• on which a procurement committee decides in accordance with the guidelines for the award of contracts (procurement regulations),
• if contracts in excess of EUR 15,000 for construction services of more than EUR 25,000 are not to be awarded to the minimum bidder according to the tender documents,
• if tenders of more than EUR 15,000 for construction work of more than EUR 25,000 from the bidder intended to be awarded the contract deviate by more than 30 percent from the cost estimate.
• the rest in sufficient random samples.

The RPA shall inform the awarding authority of its decision on the intention to audit or to waive the audit within one week of receipt of the complete notification.

For the audit, the RPA must be provided with the original

• the award documentation in accordance with the award instructions with the evaluation result,
• the minutes of the submission,
• the tenders and
• the price comparison list (comparison of unit and total prices)

must be submitted in good time before the decision on the award of contract is made so that a proper review is possible.

(3) The approval of the RPA must be obtained in advance using the form stored in the FAIRgabe system for all deviations from the type of award prescribed in the municipal procurement regulations or from the binding procedure laid down in the procurement instructions for direct awards.

This also applies to all active or passive term extensions of annual or multi-year contracts based on contractual options if the RPA has not already expressly approved the term extensions as part of the contract award. In cases in which the RPA does not agree to an extension of the term, the contract extension requires a prior decision by the Procurement Committee.

(4) If the sum of the addenda for deliveries and services and fees exceeds a value of more than EUR 5,000, or more than EUR 15,000 for construction services, these are subject to review by the RPA. For this purpose, the tender documents must be submitted to the RPA before the contract is executed, together with a detailed explanation of their necessity.

(5) The prior approval of the RPA must be obtained before any cancellation of an invitation to tender.

(6) Orders that exceed the amount of EUR 5,000 in individual cases must be reported to the RPA immediately after the order has been placed with the following information:

• Name of the measure,
• G/L account/financial item and CO account assignment/financial center or G/L account/order number (SGB),
• FAIRgabe number (consecutive measure number),
• Order amount,
• Name of the contractor,
• previous course of the award procedure.

(7) The value limits specified in paragraphs 1 to 6 are net amounts.